Latest on Ben Pino's Great Northern stop light

A new traffic light on Great Northern Road at the entrance to the new Pino's store is back on the agenda for this week's City Council meeting.

Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker is standing up for Superior Home Bakery and other nearby businesses that want assurances the new light won't make it impossible for their customers to get in and out of their parking lot.

The businesses say their problem would be resolved if they're given access to the Walmart laneway that runs across the north side of their buildings, giving their customers access to the traffic signal.

Three weeks ago, Shoemaker served notice that he'll be introducing a resolution criticizing Walmart for ignoring requests for negotiations.

He said he'll be asking that construction of the new traffic light on Great Northern Road be halted until issues about access to Walmart's laneway are resolved.

SInce then, Shoemaker tells SooToday that Walmart seems more willing to co-operate.

"Superior Bakery reports that things are progressing well and everything seems to be on track for an access agreement between both Leon’s and Superior Bakery to be able to access the Walmart laneway."

"Staff at City Hall report that discussions have been moving in the right direction both on the issue of access from neighboring businesses and on the issue of re-aligning the existing entrance/exit at Great Northern Road to hopefully provide for the ability to turn left (southbound) out of there once the lights go in."

Shoemaker spoke to Pino’s lawyer on Friday.

"He too discussed the light, the access, and the intersection with Walmart. He said they seemed sincere on their desire to resolve the matter in the best way for the entire neighbourhood around them. His impression was they were keen to achieve a result, not just pay lip service to the issue, though they admitted a resolution won’t happen overnight."

"Of course I wish it would be as simple as 'ok go ahead and get it done,' but I’m realistic enough to know it’s rarely that simple."

Shoemaker said that assuming there are no hiccups between now and Tuesday night, he'll likely ask that the issue be deferred.

"But I don’t want to take the pressure off until it is resolved."

The following is the full resolution placed on the agenda of Tuesday's City Council meeting, which will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m..

Although council has recently been holding 'hybrid' meetings with some members in the council chambers and others teleconferencing, Tuesday's meeting will be a virtual-only gathering, out of concern for rising levels of COVID-19 across Ontario.

Walmart laneway – Great Northern Road

Mover: Coun. M. Shoemaker
Seconder: Coun. D. Hilsinger

Whereas in February 2018 council approved a rezoning for a new Pino’s grocery store on Great Northern Road; and

Whereas as part of that rezoning approval, council approved a traffic light to be installed at a to-be constructed entrance to Pino’s adjacent to the Walmart laneway just north of Superior Home Bakery; and

Whereas businesses in the immediate vicinity of the proposed intersection were concerned about the ability of their clients and customers to get in and out of their premises; and

Whereas a potential solution to the access issue for those businesses would be for Walmart to grant them access to their laneway that will be controlled by a traffic signal; and

Whereas construction has begun on the installation of the traffic signals but agreements have not yet been reached between businesses that abut Walmart's laneway, and Walmart, for access to the Walmart laneway, and Walmart has been difficult to communicate with on the issue, ignoring various outreaches and correspondence;

Now therefore be it resolved that council direct that installation of traffic signals at the new intersection be paused until such time as agreements are reached or progress has been made on negotiations of such agreements between neighbouring businesses and Walmart for access to their laneway;

Further be it resolved that staff continue to make efforts to reach out to Walmart to facilitate the negotiations for said access, as they've been attempting to do for quite some time.